AOL Radio Relaunches with Slacker Slinging Tunes from the DJ's Booth

AOL just sent us word that it's relaunching its AOL Radio service, which is now powered by Slacker. It's a major overhaul with a top-to-bottom redesign, custom artists stations, improved functionality, fewer commercials, and a greater than 10 million song catalog. Listeners will have over 200 stations to browse, including custom artists stations, ESPN Radio, and a whole bunch more.

"When AOL Radio announced its partnership with Slacker this summer we anticipated greatly improved web and mobile products, but what we're giving listeners today is a completely new AOL Radio experience that exceeds our most optimistic expectations. Since many of our updates were driven by user feedback, we think our current listeners will be thrilled with the new offering. New listeners will be surprised at the evolution of AOL Radio and its vast programming choices now matched up with expansive features," said Lisa Namerow, General Manager of AOL Music & AOL Radio.

AOL is clearly gunning for Pandora, Spotify, Rdio, and every other premiere music service. AOL Radio will include features like on-demand music, offline play on mobile, the ability to bookmark or ban songs, access to album reviews, and professionally curated content.

AOL's ambitious relaunch kicks off with a free service available now, followed by two subscription products next month. These will include Radio Plus with ad-free listening, unlimited song skips, song lyrics, and offline listening for mobile, and Premium Radio with all the same features plus on-demand listening by song, album, artist, or custom playlist. AOL didn't say how much these subscriptions will run.